Tesla and SpaceX billionaire CEO Elon Musk said Friday that he will be aggressively fighting for the preservation of the H-1B visa program, which provides an important entry into the US tech sector, amid growing resistance from Donald Trump’s hardcore backers. Musk’s show of strong support came on late Friday via a posting on X, in which he acknowledged that the visa program enabled him and countless other success stories in the US.
“This is why I’m here in America, as with many other critical thinking persons who have built the actual companies SpaceX, Tesla and many more hundreds;” it’s because of the H-1B Musk said. “I’ll go to war on this issue, the kind where you can’t possibly envision.
Musk, a naturalized US citizen originally from South Africa, once held an H-1B visa himself. His company, Tesla, has secured 724 of these visas this year alone. The program, which grants work authorization for foreign professionals in specialized fields, is a cornerstone of the US tech industry. However, critics argue it suppresses wages for American workers, fueling a heated debate on immigration and skilled foreign labor.
The controversy was sparked earlier this week when far-right activists criticized Trump’s appointment of Indian-American venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as an adviser on artificial intelligence, alleging it would influence immigration policy. Steve Bannon, a close Trump confidant, intensified the rhetoric, calling tech leaders “oligarchs” and describing immigration as a threat to Western values.
In response, Musk and other tech leaders made a clear distinction between legal and illegal immigration, pointing out that skilled immigrants are the very drivers of innovation. His stance is particularly important as he has invested heavily in Trump’s election campaign and currently advises the president-elect on key issues.
Though Trump has been mum over the H-1B controversy, his earlier rhetoric seems mixed—expressing an openness to more work visas for skilled workers on the one hand, but simultaneously pledging to curtail illegal immigration and apply tariffs to create American jobs on the other.
The US tech sector relies heavily on H-1B workers to meet labor demands, so the stakes of this debate are high. Musk’s comments signal escalating tensions between the tech industry and Trump’s populist base.
